Dean of Agriculture O. Glen Hall proposed that UT build a pedestrian bridge to the agriculture campus in 1972. In 1977, with the blocking of the L&N steam pipe unofficial bridge, agriculture students intensified the pressure. A design was developed that would contain two lanes of automobile traffic, with pedestrian walkways on the sides. The bridge as proposed would span one-fourth mile and be 135 feet high crossing the railroad tracks.
In 1979, with UT not being able to fund the $1.5 million project from its own funds and the bridge placing very far down the capital priority list for state funding, the Student Services Committee of the Student Senate began to look into other sources of funds, particularly federal funds, but no grants were obtained. In February 1988 John Preston, UT system director of campus planning, announced plans for three on-campus bridges, with priority being that of a pedestrian bridge to the agricultural campus. (The other two were from Hodges Library to the top of the university center parking garage and from Jessie Harris to the Hill.) The agricultural campus bridge was to be wide enough for a trolley but would be principally for pedestrians and bicyclists. The projects went only as far as the announcement by Preston.
On October 12, 1998, Governor Don Sundquist announced plans for construction of an eight-hundred-foot, four-lane bridge spanning Third Creek and the railroad lines of Norfolk Southern and CSX. The plans also included a bike lane and pedestrian walkway. The bridge was a partial trade-off for property that UT had given to TDOT to widen the access ramps to Alcoa Highway. Three buildings—the Plant Pest Annex, Plant Sciences Annex A, and the Plant Sciences Lab— were razed for the construction of the four-lane road, which included an eight-hundred-foot viaduct.
The original design for the bridge, which called for building across Volunteer Boulevard and widening Joe Johnson Drive from Neyland Drive to the bridge, was scrapped in 1999 and replaced with the plan that intersects with Volunteer Boulevard and does not widen Joe Johnson Drive until after it passes the Indian Mound. The revised plan provided a four-lane bridge on a much smaller scale.
Construction began in fall 2000. The contractor was Jones Bros. Inc. The state approved closing Volunteer Boulevard from March to June 2001 for the construction, which involved raising Volunteer Boulevard 18 feet, after which Andy Holt Avenue was closed and raised. The $7.1 million bridge opened in summer 2002.